The Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum has rejected the assertions that government has done very little in providing learning materials for schools.

According to the Minister, the government has heavily invested in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to equip students with the relevant skills for the job market.

“The new science labs we are building at Wesley Girls, at St James, at St Louis at various schools across the country, you haven’t seen it? So invariably we hear people say there are so many problems but the opportunities are boundless.

“Great things are happening across the length and breadth of this country so those of us who are having your children (admitted to SHS) they are going to walk into science labs that they have never seen before,” he said.

He was speaking at the University of Ghana’s 74^th Annual New Year School on Wednesday.

Dr. Adutwum added that although people had the perception that government is not doing much, the Ministry is committed to delivering on its mandate.

He urged Ghanaians to believe that they could change the status quo and work towards it.

“I want us to begin to feel empowered that we are capable of shifting the paradigm, otherwise our minds are always going to be looking for problems,” he added.

Also, the Minister questioned the relevance of some courses run by the universities in the country.

Dr. Adutwum cited the situation as one of the causes of Ghana’s high graduate unemployment rate.

“So many students have been enrolled in Diploma in Education, they are being trained for jobs that do not exist. Thousands and thousands are graduating for jobs that do not exist,” Dr Adutwum said.

“One favourite course that I always cite is what is called Sanitation Education but there is no course in Sanitation to be taught.

“Invariably, we have BA in Education and it is supposed to prepare students for non-teaching jobs, what type of non-teaching jobs are you preparing students in BA Education for? They don’t exist, but the degree programme exists,” he added.